Beatrice de Cardi

7 July 2016

Institute staff, students, friends and
colleagues will be saddened to hear of the death of Beatrice de Cardi on 5 July.

Beatrice de Cardi, OBE, FBA, FSA, who died on 5 July 2016, a month after her 102nd birthday, received a BA from UCL in 1935, before working as Secretary to Sir Mortimer Wheeler at the London Museum where he was then Keeper.

During WWII Beatrice was based with the Allied Supplies Executive of the War Cabinet in China and afterwards worked as Assistant UK Trade Commissioner with the Board of Trade, initially in Delhi, then serving in Karachi and Lahore.

At this time she began her years of pioneering fieldwork, initially in Baluchistan (Pakistan), Afghanistan and Iran and later in the lower Gulf states of Ras
Al Khaimah, UAE, Oman, Qatar - becoming, by the end of her career, the world’s oldest practising archaeologist.

Beatrice received an OBE for services to British archaeology (in 1973). This was followed by the award of the Al Qasimi Medal for archaeological services to Ras
Al Khaimah (in 1989) and the Burton Memorial Medal by the Royal Asiatic Society (1993).

Beatrice was appointed an Honorary Fellow of UCL in 1995 and at the time
of her death had been a Visiting Professor at the UCL Institute of
Archaeology for many years. The UCL flag is being flown at half-mast from 11-15 July 2016 as a mark of respect.